Brent VanDonnick

The powers that be have covered up threads? What? 😂

https://www.hbvl.be/cnt/dmf20240313_96599522?&articlehash=MkoA8dqdgB8iYnSfj6KaLmeJOgMWg3pJMjJjPUEefcpSTkss62ZtV46p6F7vUt2EM9tKOQo8f6JqutkDgK4Y%2FQl4lJPsE9g%2BC%2FsF%2Bro8pA70og5I6%2BChadQ9eFaDSVtFHPHUesq1poDsGuo3tKRxkTDLsF%2FTPuz0yNUtcjIlHDrXD%2BUULd6DWH4%2B%2FQEIhYz2V3EIuW5QFRskjuB%2BqyzUvZAKt5gQtbA5TWiCQCDyTrt3gITseNnCnGA7WeVxlUNXX4qxKuj14P1kzR5BPShmYqcNvxLE8AQMiKRYJF4Ik8GI8b8rqUPFZ7lMX8QpqDLfNVw2FlJGPeEV%2BREj7s%2B%2FtA%3D%3D

Translate Google needed

So I'm not creating an account for that story but the headline said "they knocked a pin into his leg with no anaesthetic"

 That sounds horrendous.

The fact they had to pay up front for the pin for his leg is awful. 

This is why these 3rd World GP's should not happen without a full rider bond from the organiser. 

Wow, you took that to a place I didn't expect.

I don't see why you would pick a fight with ML over this. It was great that you started the thread but you went in a direction that wasn't called for.

Found an article with no subscription required. Sounds like a cluster. Poor guy. 

https://gatedrop.com/brent-van-doninck-update-horror-story-in-argentina/

David Luongo needs to answer for this atrocity.

Proper medical care needs to be arranged in advance by the promoter before any riders leave the EU for fly away races.  The fact that Van doninick could still have problems with an infection in his broken leg makes me scared for him.

F1 or Moto Gp guys would never have to go through hell like this.   WTF Luongo and FIM?

Pretty crappy situation...  "World Championship" series going to countries without decent medical care in a sport we all know can and regretfully often experiences serious injuries. Wishing Brent the best and hope he can get the hell out of there,

Was just discussing this with a well known GP rider. Every team in MXGP is loungos bitch just too stupid to realize without them he has no show so they have all the power and he has none. He’s running the brothel,  they’re all working for him because they haven’t got the brains to figure out no hookers = no brothel.

All it would take would be for the KTM group to draw up a list of demands - one of them being a blanket insurance policy to repatriate any injured riders to their home country for appropriate medical treatment- or they walk .

MXGP without KTM, Gas Gas or Husky doesn’t exist. And before anyone bangs on with the usual asinine “ bike sales “ arguments nobody who buys a bike does so because of what some rider did or didn’t do in a GP somewhere. 

Of course that will never happen because everyone involved is too stupid to figure it out even though loungos actions over the last 20 years has proven he doesn’t give a shit about the riders or teams. 

MXGP has some races in a few rather undeveloped nations. Anything like this ever happen before? Lets hope they learned from this experience.

Fully agree that MXGP dropped the ball on this badly. But man these teams also have themselves to blame. They have been going to far away places for years and nobody asked up front about what the arrangements are in case of emergencies? 

I was hoping Steve Matthes was going to put the hard but deserved questions to D Luongo, but here we go with Gold Vip suites at Europe races and Shrimp Cocktails. 
Well done Steve. Because Davey Coombes is cuddling up with the Luongo Mafioso, youve now changed your tune hard. Shame shame Steve..

bottomless waffles from the "big guy" are standard features on the PulpMX app

Business is business, and "Gold VIP" (whatever that is) is not that big of a deal -  free food from a nice salad bar and all access, anyone that works at MXGP gets that anyway.

I don't fault PulpMX for trying to get what he can.  He has a small podcast that caters to English speaking fans, so I'm pretty confident that Luongo is not shaking in his boots in fear of a salty rebuke from Steve Matthes and company over how he runs MXGP.

The bigger issue here is how InFront did not apparently have a safety net in place for transporting injured riders out of the area to get high quality medical care.

If there is a repatriation or evacuation plan for injured riders it must be top secret, because no one knows about it.

This is like not buying auto insurance because you have never been in an accident. 

 InFront, Jacky Martens, and the sanctioning body should be publicly shamed over what they put this racer through...

What's Jacky done? As mentioned in one of the links above, they wanted 2000 dollars in cash. I doubt anyone from the MXGP paddock had that kinda money on them. Well, maybe a couple...

Good topic to bring up but please put down the Vodka and take a time out.

Panhandling the pits for hospital cash is not a good plan after your rider gets hurt in a foreign country.

Any time a rider races outside their own health care system coverage area, plans have to be made before hand for evacuation and care coverage. 

Rank and file MXGP and MX2 riders don't make that much money, I'm sure most working guys on this board make more than they do.  Most of them couldn't afford to pay for a 70K medical flight out if they get badly hurt at a race.    

For a World Championship level sport not to have a plan in place for something like this is just stupid and greedy.

All the riders have to have a full repatriation insurance as part of their FIM license, i had to have one to race in the USA and Germany, but that is zero use when the bloke doing the operation says 'cash only' . 

And while you would like to think that its no big deal to have $2k in cash on hand, taking money in and out of foreign countries in cash is never great. 

They are all sellouts, its all about the money and you wash my hand i wash yours.

Have you ever been to Argentina..??

although some time ago since I was there it was very difficult as a foreign visitor to get hard cash...  Banks would not change money (Dollar to Peso) and if you didn't have cash to change at travel exchanges you couldn't get it from the bank with a card.

 The way I would interpret what your saying is that JM didn't want to pay .... more like he didn't have the amount of hard cash available to  pay hence why Vosters lent him the cash to do so.  I'm sure the Debt was repaid by the normal channels in Europe.

I've lent people money myself when racing abroad to get them out of a situation,   its what you do when someone you know or are friends with needs help.

Yes.

Louis Vosters lent the cash to pay for the surgery is how I understand it.

The repatriation Insurance for FIM license holders is reimbursement for partial expense only and not full prophylactic coverage, 

the issue that still remains is going to a foreign region to race in one of the most dangerous sports is made even more risky because the sanctioning  body and  promoter did not make arrangements with local medical treatment in the case of a worst case scenario,

asking a rider or team in a foreign land for $2000 in cash to fix a broken leg is savage. This kind of bullshit only makes this sport look more fringe and unorganized.

How wealthy would you say the Luongo family are?

This is really bad. Infront should support somehow to bring Brent back to Europe.

I don't like idea of bringing MXGP to third world countries just because in Excel file, motorcycles sales (scooters mainly) are huge.
Apparently, even on the highest level, our sport is loooose program and I hope that actions will be taken after this incident- at lease some kind of full insurance for overseas races. I feel so bad for Brent, poor guy.. 

Someone in that paddock had $2k in Bitcoin, which is legal tender in Argentina.

And…how did that workout? 

The point: this situation is ridiculous. 

This thread is aimed in the wrong direction.  You want to blame the media for the lack of medical care for riders?  As if the reporting on it would change the fact that you are a professional athlete, in a competition in a 3rd world medical country. It all comes down to choices. Risk vs. Reward.

My whole racing world stopped when I realized that the show would go on without me. I also learned that the medical insurance world is complex and buying insurance only means you will need to pay for lawyers to prove your insurance needs to pay later. When you compete in a high risk sport, everything changes.  You know why there are entry fees to races? It comes down to legalities. Bottom line, as a racer you assume the risk. 

You want to blame Michael and Matthes as if they have any part in making this change or “exposing” the truths.  At the end of the day, every rider, everywhere needs to understand they need to cover themselves. This should be known up front.  Promoters provide  a platform to compete.  That’s the business model. It’s complex, but laws, regulations and not the promoters will keep it this way.

I feel bad for this rider.  Especially if he assumed he would be covered while competing. It’s easy to say he should have been.  The reality is a promoter or the media can do little to change the insurance model as a whole.